New Caledonia's Kanaks disadvantaged

New research shows even though New Caledonia has one of the largest economies in the Pacific region, inequality persists between the indigenous Kanaks and the rest of the population.

An assistant professor of Economics at the University of New Caledonia, Catherine Ris, used data from recent censuses to determine the status of the indigenous population and the extent to which it differs from other New Caledonians.

She told Pacific Beat the benefits from New Caledonia's booming nickel industry have not been equally shared with huge disparities in income, educational qualifications and employment..

"One of the reasons for that is that school achievement really differs across ethnicities," she said.

Only three per cent of Kanaks graduate from higher education, compared to 23 per cent of the rest of the population while unemployment among young indigenous Kanaks stands at 38 per cent - four times greater than for the rest of the population.

"This disparity in school achievements also implies of course disparities in access to employment, labour market outcome and income distribution," she says.

Non-Kanak people also benefit from having better social networks and more information when it comes to applying for jobs.

"Another reason is there are very few Kanak people in managerial or higher positions in the labour market so there is no really representation for young Kanak people to say I can do that, I can reach that position," she says.

But Ms Ris says the scope of inequality has greatly decreased compared to 20 years ago.

"With time, people get more and more qualified and I guess will need time to get access to the labour market," she says.

Ms Ris says it may be difficult to get her research noticed in New Caledonia, where ethnicity is a touch subject.